Humming Birds and Wonderbolts
by Dreamscape195
Summary: It's a few years in the future and the main six have all moved on, even the CMC have grown up... yet one full grown mare still has a blank flank. The story begins with Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, and the strange events that lead to her encounter with this mare. It might include romance, and so far it's more dramatic than I'd intended. We'll see where it goes PLEASE Review
1. Chapter 1: Early Morning

Hello everyone, first off I'd like to take the time to cover a couple minor details :)

First and foremost being that this _is_ my very first fan fiction that I've ever written, so while I **am **looking for critique (which undoubtedly includes constructive criticism) please keep such criticism just that: constructive. Not all of us have done this before; I am a self admitted rookie prone to rookie mistakes, and I'm asking only that you don't point them out with an air of "you should have already known that". Please and thank you! :)

Secondly, on a more MLP based note, though I'm not yet one hundred percent sure that my story will incorporate such aspects, there is a decidedly high chance that I will be adding an element of romance (because lets face it, when the plot of the story just isn't good enough the romance can keep it from being a total flop).

On a related note, I want it known and out there that I personally view the life cycle of the MLP FIM ponies as being similar to that of real horses in that they reach adult maturity at about three years old, which can be supported by the obvious size and stature difference between young Fluttershy and the other young versions of the main six (all shown on the same day), even though she is only one year older than them_ (this size difference can be viewed in season 1 episode 23, __The Cutie Mark Chronicles__ and Fluttershy mentions her age difference in relation to Pinkie Pie in season 1 episode 5 __Griffin the Brush Off__)_. I, personally, assume that they are born the size of Pound and Carrot Cake and over a year become the size of the CMC who I assume to be yearlings. After one more year they'd reach the size and stature of young Fluttershy, an adolescent, and after one year more reach full maturity and look the same as the main six.

This aforementioned timeline of their growth is important in that it means, hypothetically, that the age difference between the main six and the CMC could be as little as two years, meaning that as long as a few years have passed since the time in which the show is set, it would not in any way be pedophilia to pair the now _adult_ CMC with slightly older ponies.

Ok, enough babbling, on with the story! (I won't do this before subsequent chapters, I promise!)

**Disclaimer:  
**_This is an MLP FIM (My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic) fan fiction. I, the author, do not in any way profit from this story, and all creative rights to the characters and their world up to and including words specific to their world (such as "Equestria" or the "Wonderbolts") belong to their original creator(s) including Lauren Faust, Hasbro, and The Hub, among others. Artistic licence was taken regarding some aspects of the world of MLP FIM and the personalities and ages of the characters. The following story is for entertainment purposes only. _

* * *

**Chapter 1: ****_Early Morning _**

It started out like any other day for the Wonderbolts, a late, lazy start with nothing particular to do until practice at midday. Spitfire was one of the early risers, partially out of habit because she liked the piece and quite she got when everypony else was asleep, and partially because she felt she should always be available in the mornings if any of the others needed her.

Still warm from the long night's rest, she stretched her legs and then her wings, flexing and bending them as far as she could to get the kinks out and get them ready for the day. She trotted at an easy pace out of her home in the small village-like cluster of clouds the Wonderbolts inhabited. Preferring not to fly until she'd warmed up, she stayed on hoof and made her way to the communal kitchen where she paid a couple bits for a bottle of WonderAid before heading up to the gym.

The deep, heavy pulsing of one of the massive fans was easy to hear as she cantered inside, wondering who – besides herself – was up so early. It was an almost teal pony with a blond mane, all suited up in full WonderBolt gear. Her name was Lightning Dust, a troublesome yet promising recruit who'd had to go through the academy twice, and was now their newest member. She was on the far side of the room, flying strait into the gale force winds produced by the training fan. She didn't look up when Spitfire joined her in the gym. Spitfire was glad she was doing some training and didn't bother to disturb her. She hopped up on a treadmill nearer the front and switched it immediately to half power, settling into an easy ambling gait that wasn't quite a gallop.

Once she'd warmed up she downed the last of her WonderAid and dialed the treadmill straight up to full power, galloping as quickly as she could and trying hard to keep up and not be thrown off the back. It didn't matter how often she'd done this, full speed was hard to achieve, let alone maintain, and after five minutes she'd run herself out and was ready to join Lightning Dust in the flight chambers.

While all the other WonderBolts slept, Spitfire flew into the wind tunnel right next to the one Lightning Dust was just beginning to power down, and switched on her fan. It was at this precise moment that an enormous, ear-splittingly loud BOOM tore through the air so violently that the clouds themselves trembled in its passing. The two Pegasus mares shared an equally urgent look of worry and fear. Though they didn't know what it _was,_ both Spitfire and Lightning were absolutely certain, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that it was something much, much more serious than an early morning sonic rainboom.

-.-.-.-

Asleep in her relatively new home, the sound of the blast instantly awakened Rainbow Dash. She was outside and racing towards the source of the sound in a matter of seconds with another blue Pegasus, the blind Echo Fleetfoot, at her heels.

On any other day, with any other rude awakening, Dash might have - _probably_ would have - just rolled back over and waited to be ordered to get up before actually doing so. But Dash knew that sound, and it came from Ponyville, or somewhere very close to it. If she was right, she had a very good reason to be worried. As she raced toward ponyville, glad to have somepony with her but wishing it'd been somepony capable of helping her scan the skies for smoke, she thought back to the first time she'd heard that sound.

Far from Ponyville, a tan stallion named Strato Cumulus had flown out over the sea with her. Out to an area that governed itself, just like the Everfree forest. It was there that she'd seen it.

Before she was a Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash was the head of the weather team in Ponyville, and before she was the head of the team, she'd been a regular member of it. It was during her mandatory training for the head position that she'd had to become acquainted with some of the unnatural forces that could come from those strange places that were capable of affecting the weather in her team's domain. Among those anomalies had been earthquakes, landslides, typhoons, and tornadoes. Each of which had only minor effects on nearby pony towns and were easily handled by weather teams as long as they knew about them quickly enough.

What worried her now though, was something the older pony had called a volcano, a sleeping mountain that would periodically explode and shower the area with fire, stones, magma and ash. The stones and molten stone, the stallion had explained, were thrown high into the air but didn't generally go too far from the mountain, the real problem from a weather pony's perspective, was the ash that would coat the skies for miles and rain down on the land for days, sometimes weeks, blocking out the sun and causing the temperature to plunge to dangerously cold levels. The ash was nearly impossible to clear from the skies, and it took an incredible amount of precision work to even attempt to clear the soot from the air.

It was out over the sea that he'd taken her to see an 'active' volcano so they could practice clearing ash. The mountain rose up from a small black island in the sea, but where the tip should have been was instead a crater that was spewing liquid flames and billowing smoke. The only way she could describe the sound was to use a word that meant something entirely different, 'chortle'. It wasn't a chortle like the laugh, but the sound was choppy and gurgly and could only be described as "chort". While Strato was trying to demonstrate the most effective way to clear the ash, Rainbow Dash had hovered in one place, staring in awe of the leaping fire... until it exploded.

Until that moment, she'd thought the volcano was hands down one of the coolest weird things she'd ever seen, but when it exploded, Strato Cumulus was struck by something that had come shooting from it, and dropped from the suddenly much darker sky. Rainbow Dash had torn her eyes away from the peak and shot down to where he was paddling in the water. She helped fly him out far enough that he could take flight again and together they flew back to the shore, out away from the sea, and went straight to the nearest hospital. A fleck of magma, no bigger than a small stone, had struck his back leg and burned it's way through almost an inch into his flesh. His head and wings were fine, but in the shock and pain he'd forgotten to flap to keep himself aloft. He was lucky that this was the case because he'd somehow dislodged the nasty little blob when he hit the water.

The memory played over and over again in Dash's mind as she got nearer and nearer to Ponyville. She kept mentally comparing the deep rolling blast from that day to the one she'd woken up to. This one had been much, much louder but the sounds were unnervingly similar, like rolling thunder that had somehow been bottled, finally bursting out all at once.

She saw smoke on the horizon.

Echo and Rainbow flew in silence. She kept telling herself it was just a fire, or another dragon sleeping in the cave Fluttershy had ushered the last one from. Both were more likely than a volcano of all things after all. There weren't even any mountains in the Everfree forest! '_But there are a few near it, very near it, and one of them has weather that controls itself surrounding it' _she though to herself, immediately arguing back '_but then again, that mountain is pointed, it doesn't have a crater in it!'. _

"I'm getting deep sounds back here, scary deep, and I smell sulfur Dash, what's going on?" Echo Fleetfoot suddenly called out.

"BUCK!" Rainbow screamed, "We've got to go back Echo, RIGHT now!" She banked hard to the left and beat her wings as hard and as fast as she could. Fleetfoot followed. As they flew, Rainbow explained.

-.-.-.-

The whole trip took less than five minutes, but by the time they were back Spitfire had already assembled the rest of the Wolderbolts. She looked frantic and anxious, but that look melted into anger and frustration when she saw Dash and Fleetfoot speeding towards her without their uniforms.

"There you two are! Where have you been?! We've got a situation here!" Spitfire began to yell, but Rainbow Dash cut in, yelling even louder to make sure she was heard, "Yeah, and it's worse than you realize! Fleetfoot and I already checked it out, there's a VOLCANO near Ponyville!"

Spitfire spluttered in exasperation and shock, at a total loss. Dash could see that the captain did not want to believe it, but clearly she knew what a volcano was, so at least she didn't have to explain that much.

"But that's not the worst of it," the cyan mare continued in a rush, "I was talking to Applejack just yesterday and she was all 'in a tizzy' about some field trip Cheeralee's class was taking out to a mountain today! Something about seeing the 'same properties exhibited by the Everfree forest but in a safer environment'. What other peak could have done something like that on it's own? Spitfire there might be FOALS on that volcano!"


	2. Chapter 2: A flightless Pegasus

**Chapter 2:_ A Flightless Pegasus_**

Spitfire made Fleetfoot stay behind. Echo was good, completely capable of navigating under normal conditions – in fact she frequently did better than the rest of them, but an erupting volcano was noisy and with so many flying debris, it just wasn't something she wanted to leave to chance.

Rainbow Dash took the time Spitfire spent arguing with the other blue mare to zip back to her home and get her into her uniform. The entire ordeal, from the moment of the first eruption to the moment the Wonderbolts left in traveling formation took less than ten minutes. Within another three they were passing through the ash laden skies over Ponyville towards the Everfree forest and the smoking remains of the mountain just past it.

They flew over the base of the volcano and could see a great number of ponies fleeing from small rock slides and slow trails of glowing black and yellow goo. It looked as if half the town had decided to come help out, only to discover there wasn't a thing they could do without endangering themselves.

One by one the Wonderbolts peeled away from formation to help one random pony or another to safety, but Spitfire, Soarin, Misty Fly, Rainbow Dash, and Lightning Dust where more worried about the class of foals who had been on a field trip. _'Why today of all days?' _Spitfire thought to herself as she scoured the mountain, still leading their much smaller formation.

"Over there!" Rainbow shouted, not bothering to point. She sped up and took the lead of the formation, aiming them for a small cluster of trembling young fillies and colts. The rest of the bolts followed without hesitation.

Rainbow and Lightning landed and started talking to the terrified foals, Rainbow telling them it was ok now that _they, _The Wonderbolts, were here to protect them and Lightning, less tactful, demanding to know where the teacher and the rest of the class were. Spitfire, Soarin, and Misty circled around the group in the air counting heads. There were far too few foals here to be the whole class, Spitfire feared the worst: a dozen or so either lost to falling magma or still out here somewhere, stranded and suffocating in the smoke. She turned to her fastest flier, and waved a hoof at Lightning interrupting the unsuccessful attempt to find out where the rest of the class was.

"Rainbow Dash, quickly, make a circuit and look for lost foals! Don't help any right now if they can be helped a bit later, just see to those in need of immediate help and report back right away!" She ordered. The mare didn't take more than a moment to process the command and didn't waste time with "Yes, ma'am." She shot off, a streak of rainbow disappearing into the smoke.

She turned to the Wonderbolts' newest member. "Lightning Du—" she was cut off by a terrible sounding blast and the already obscured sky grew even thicker with ash and smoke.

"Lightning Dust," she started again, "Try to have a little more tact keep these foals calm until Rainbow Dash gets back. You're going to guide them into Ponyville from the air and I'll send somepony else to help as soon as I can."

Just as Spitfire was about to lead the last two bolts around the mountain to intercept Rainbow Dash, she, and a dozen foals came galloping down from higher up right between two uncomfortably close tendrils of magma. These foals dashed out to join the ones with Lightning Dust, most of them too much in shock or too in awe of the odd turn of events to be sobbing or panicking. Foals were resilient in that way, they were much better at rolling with it when strange things happened than adult mares and stallions.

Rainbow turned to Spitfire and nodded towards the newer group of fillies and colts,"I didn't see anypony else, but one of these fillies wouldn't stop talking about somepony who helped them get away but didn't come with them. It might have been the teacher, Cheeralee, do you want me to go look again?" the cyan Pegasus quickly inquired.

"No," Spitfire answered, "We three have it covered, you go with Lightning and get these foals safe, you got them through that minefield back there," she said, nodding her head to indicate the intertwining tendrils of lava she'd guided them through, "and I want you to make sure they all get to where it's really safe, got it?"

"Yes Ma'am". Rainbow Dash turned to the foals and started issuing orders. She herded them down the safer side of the mountain and Lightning Dust took up her position higher in the sky shouting down so they kept in the right direction. Spitfire watched for a moment to make sure they were ok and saw them intercepted by a frazzled and terrified yellow Pegasus traveling on hoof. She seemed to calm down almost immediately when she saw the frightened young ones and took over murmuring soothing words to the terrified foals as they went. Spitfire nodded to herself, _'Good, that's one less straggler and a lot fewer traumatized younglings all wrapped up in one neat little package,'_ she though.

Turning back to her companions she considered their situation. Only Soarin, Misty Fly, and she herself remained. None of the other Wonderbolts had returned to help. They'd have to make due.

They circled the mountain two or three times higher up without seeing anypony.

"I think we got 'em all Spit!" Misty shouted.

"Oh Celestia! No, we didn't, who's that over there?!" Spitfire gasped, pointing with her hoof and yet another lone stranded pony.

"Cheeralee, she won't get to safety herself until she knows her class is out of harm's way!" Misty shouted. She swung left and made for where the teacher was prancing about in circles, separated from her class and looking frantically around for them. Soarin stiffened his wings and began to roll gently in their direction.

"Misty's got it Soar, fly with me, we need to check higher up!" Spitfire shouted as she rolled in the opposite direction and streaked up the side of the mountain over slowly creeping trails of lava, scanning for movement or bright colors.

"Over here! Help!" somepony screamed from even further up the mountain than where they were searching, right in the heart of the magma flow. They tilted in the direction of the voice and found a lower, shallower peak, a hill on the side of the mountain that was spewing lava. The hill was now cut off from all safe paths by flowing molten rock. On it was a full grown Pegasus mare and two young foals, undoubtedly part of Miss Cheeralee's class.

"For Celestia's sake, how many more foals are we missing?" Soarin worried aloud.

To their surprise the mare answered his question, "None! I got the first group lower but the other half panicked and ran in the wrong direction. They got stranded on this hill, but I convinced them to jump over one of the smaller flows here. If you found both halves these two are all that's left! There was another blast and the lava stream got too wide before these two could make it across!" she called, "I told the others to go on without them because if they found anypony they could send back help."

"Well here we are!" Soarin said as he swooped down and scooped up the two unicorn fillies, "I've got these two Spit, I think this is everypony but if you want to do one more swoop it'll have to be without me." He took off down the mountain to join the others.

Spitfire turned to follow, pulling her wings tight and letting gravity help her to pick up speed as she went. An enormous blast shook the air. She turned to look for the orange colored mare behind her, and saw that she still standing there on what little was left of the now almost entirely engulfed hill, just watching them fly away. Spitfire tucked her wings, flapped once hard and tilted them up, she looped strait up and was suddenly going in the right direction, but upside down. She pulled one wing tight to her body and left the other only slightly extended, rolling over back upright. This quick maneuver turned her around much faster than banking would have, and kept her speed up. She zipped back toward the orange Pegasus. Soarin didn't notice.

"What are you doing?! Come ON!" she screamed, shooting just past the unmoving mare. She stiffened and tilted her wings as she pitched up and rolled to the side, banking hard to circle around and keep close to her. She beat her wings furiously as she came out of the turn, slowing down to hover alongside the horror struck pony. "What in the name of Equestria is wrong?! FLY!" she gasped, the panicky edge to her voice all too apparent.

The orange mare looked shell-shocked from having been left behind, but some part of her was still coherent; her eyes shot upward and met Spitfire's for the briefest moment before snapping back down to the magma steadily creeping up the incline and ever closer to her. Without tearing her gaze from the molten rock, she shook her head violently and stamped her hoof. Another loud blast from the mountain drowned out what the Pegasus then said.

Spitfire instinctively dove down what little distance she had available, wings tight to her sides, and then snapped them back out as she pitched back up and flapped hard, swooping, climbing, and gaining incredible speed in a matter of moments. The orange mare ducked and cringed, but on her little shrinking island couldn't as easily avoid the flaming shards of debris and red-hot stones. Spitfire flit haphazardly around the mare as the rubble showered down on them, her panic almost overtaking her rational mind. It took everything the Wonderbolt captain had not to flee without the mare.

The raining debris soon stopped, but the magma flow had increased in speed and volume and heat was becoming unbearable. The stranded mare's time was quickly running out.

"I can't!" she screamed again, "I can't fly!" This time she looked straight into the captain's eyes, pleading with them for a miracle.

_'She's injured a wing or something,' _Spitfire thought to herself, '_Oh dear Celestia, that explains why she didn't fly those two fillies over on her own. I don't think I can carry her, not with my lungs in this condition! Luna help me!'_

"Well you're going to have to try!" she bellowed, grabbing the pony under forelegs and tugging upward. She was surprisingly light, even for a Pegasus, but it was only a small blessing. At first the mare did nothing to help, hanging limply in Spitfire's hooves as they slowly lifted off the island and out over the seeping mass of melted stone. Spitfire coughed harshly, losing her breath and most of their altitude at the same time. "Flap, you have to try and help me, flap!" she wheezed through clenched teeth.

The orange pony suddenly shifted around in the captain's embrace to free her wings a little more, and started to beat them at an odd, unnatural pace, somehow failing to push any air at all in her down-strokes. The motion made it harder to keep hold, and it certainly wasn't helping them gain altitude or speed. The mare tried in vain to catch the air, playing with different angles and flapping speeds, but nothing changed. The young pony stopped trying. Spitfire was relieved; she didn't want to waste what little breath she had left issuing instructions to stop.

Another, louder blast came from the mountain and the earth all around them shook violently. The pair had by this time gained just enough altitude to dip down and let gravity help them glide along the slope of the mountain toward lower ground, but with the flightless mare in tow, Spitfire could not react as quickly as before. Several small bits of stone pelted her as she flew and she could do nothing but pray nothing larger struck her. The smoke was very thick now and through her blurred vision and spinning head, the Wonderbolt captain could still tell that they needed to go higher if they wanted to avoid the burning Everfree forest just below them. She beat her wings and gasped for breath just to maintain the height she had now; she didn't think she had it in her to climb.

The orange mare beneath her wasn't quite as bad off; her lungs hurt a little but she hadn't been exerting herself in this smoke either. Feeling very guilty for forcing Spitfire through all this just because she couldn't fly, she'd been scanning the ground from the moment she'd given up trying to help, looking for a somewhat safe path with which she could flee on hoof. While the yellow captain was gazing with fear at the forest, the orange mare below her saw her chance. The forest was on fire, but the lava hadn't made it this far past the base of the volcano yet; she could run here! She squirmed forcefully in Spitfire's grasp, trying to free herself. "Spitfire! Let me go, I can run here! I'm sorry!" she barked.

The captain was wrenched out of her line of thought when the mare began to twist and turn below her, shouting to be let go of. At first Spitfire though she was trying to sacrifice herself, and had to fight down a wave of disgust and anger with the mare for giving up so close to safety, but as she tore free and hit the ground running, shouting one last time that she was sorry, the captain realized why the mare had insisted on being released. Suddenly free of her burden, Spitfire's speed increased tenfold and she zipped over the edges of the trees, following the blur of the sprinting grounded Pegasus.

The pair moved rapidly through the forest, for once not encountering a single beast within it. As they got further and further away from the heat, Spitfire really began to feel the effects of the last few minutes taking hold. There were too many bruised and singed spots along her coat and wings to count. Her muscles were strained and without the heated air to help lift her, she felt the pull of gravity that much stronger and harder to fight against. She was coughing more often and every breath felt thin and laced with ash. Her vision swam and she lost sight of the mare she'd been following and unconsciously relying on to know the way out of the forest. Adrenaline no longer fueled her flight, and she sagged as the inevitable crash caught up to her, passing out just before she fell from the sky.

The other Pegasus had already mentally mapped out her path as she had dropped from the yellow one's grasp and she hit the ground running. She didn't watch where she was going even half as much as she kept her eyes on Spitfire, tracking her flight path and making sure she was still able to fly on her own. The mare knew these woods, but she knew the captain of the Wonderbolts didn't… at least not from this close to the ground. When the yellow Pegasus began to pitch and sway, the orange one knew she didn't have long to get below and catch her. She bolted in her direction, exceedingly light on her hooves, and leapt into the air precisely as Spitfire lost consciousness, successfully catching her and landing back on all fours. "Only fair that I return the favor since I'm the one who got you into this mess" she mumbled to herself.


	3. Chapter 3: Parting Ways

**Chapter 3: ****_Parting Ways_**

"Rainbow Dash, um, if it's not too much to ask, could you, um, maybe, um, ask that other Wonderbolt to lead us to my cottage, please?"

"Yeah, yeah sure thing, whatever Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash muttered distractedly, "HEY YOU! Yeah you, don't put that in your mouth! We're in the middle of the Everfree forest for crying out loud! You don't know if it's poisonous or not!" the rainbow maned pony shouted at one of the colts.

She turned back to Fluttershy, but before she could say another word a different foal caught her attention. "IDA RED!" she screamed, "Get your little filly tail away from that poison ivy! Your mom will be in even more of a 'tizzy' if I bring you back covered in an itchy rash than she already will be about this whole volcano mess!" She turned back to Fluttershy again. "Yeah, yeah, one sec," Dash grumbled, zipping quickly up above the mass of foals to talk to Lightning Dust.

"See that cottage over there? I need you to lead us to it," Dash's patience had been worn through; she didn't even bother with manners. Lightning Dust frowned disapprovingly, but nodded.

Dash didn't touch down, but back on the same level as the rest of them, she addressed the group as a whole, "Ok everypony we're about two-thirds of the way there, just stay together, AND THAT MEANS YOU TOO!" she shouted irritably. She flew up and dragged a little black Pegasus colt out of the branches of a big tree that he was fluttering around and pulled him down to the rest of the foals by his tail.

"I wanna go to flight school!" he whined.

"What does that have to do with… ? Ugh, never mind," Rainbow Dash shook her head and rolled her eyes, "These foals are driving me fruitbatty," she muttered exasperatedly to Fluttershy, who bashfully looked away – no doubt agreeing with Dash but not wanting to admit it.

"Shift 20˚ to the right at this next log!" Lightning dust hollered from above.

"So," a pink unicorn filly began for probably the hundredth time, "Do you think we'll see a manticore? I _really _want to see a manticore!" The filly flit this way and that as she said it, peering behind random tree trunks as if a manticore could really be hiding just behind one.

"Oh my, no, you won't see a manticore out here, not after that volcano erupted. They have very sensitive noses and all this sulfur and ash just isn't good for_ any_ creature. He'd stay as far away as he could get," Fluttershy explained, again.

"You know what else?" Dash cut in, "Animals don't like loud noises so maybe if you're all really quite for like, _ten minutes_ a nice big Cyclops-Hydra-Dragonacore will come and eat us," Rainbow Dash fumed sarcastically. Some of the young fillies and colts caught the sarcasm, but most of them did not.

"Rainbow Dash, what you just said doesn't exist," Fluttershy interjected, but none of the foals heard her – they were too busy being overly theatric about being quite.

-.-.-.-

While Dash and her little party of foals, Lightning Dust, and Fluttershy herself made their way to Fluttershy's cottage, the orange grounded Pegasus had also set her course in that same direction. Spitfire was still unconscious and getting around obstacles with the mare on her back was difficult; the path she took zigzagged all across the forest.

She'd almost reached her destination, murmuring to Spitfire as she went when she realized her own voice wasn't the only one she was hearing.

"-dra-dragonacore will come eat us!"

The mare's eyes grew wide in panic, '_Rainbow Dash!'_ she recognized the voice drifting through the woods and growing closer by the second. For a moment the grounded Pegasus stood in one place, indecision holding her to the spot. She didn't want to be seen by Rainbow Dash but she didn't want to just _leave _Spitfire lying on the ground either.

'_Spitfire is the captain of the Wonderbolts' _her mind argued for her, '_Rainbow Dash is part of the team, she'll know how better to care for her than you do anyway!'_ It was a good point. She carefully slid Spitfire off of her back, quickly checked the captain's breathing, then bolted into the nearby brush, trying hard not to rustle the leaves.

-.-.-.-

Up above, Lightning Dust was barely watching the forest below her. She kept the cluster of colored ponies just in her peripheral vision and spent most of her time scanning much further ahead and plotting their path. As she glanced down to shout out what would probably be the last course correction they'd have to make before breaking free of the woods, an unmoving yellow pony just off their path caught her eye. "What in the hay?" she gasped, "Is that Spitfire?!"

"DASH!" Lightning Dust hollered, "Dash, get that other pony to keep everypony going that way," she pointed with her hoof as she swooped down to join the group, "But I think I just spotted Spitfire and she's not moving!"

Rainbow Dash, who'd been about to tell Lightning that 'that other pony' had a name and that she could ask her herself – completely lost her train of thought at the mention of their captain. With the others momentarily forgotten, the two Wonderbolts flew barely a couple of meters to their fallen leader and began to gather her up. Dash's eyes traveled along the tears and singes in the back of the Wonderbolt's suit, worrying about some of the larger spots that seemed to have burned into the mare's fur and skin. Lightning Dust seemed oblivious as she hoisted the mare firmly onto her own back.

"Careful!" Rainbow snapped concernedly, fluttering above and grabbing hold of the yellow mare's midsection to help carry her from above.

From the brush nearby, the flightless orange mare had seen the hasty, reckless way the Pegasus had handled Spitfire as she flipped her up onto her back, and silently thanked Rainbow Dash for saying something about it.

The two Wonderbolt mares took the lead once more and the entire gang covered the final stretch to Fluttershy's cabin. As they set back off, the orange Pegasus came out from the brush and turned sadly away to head in the other direction.


	4. Chapter 4: Aftermath

**Chapter 4: ****_Aftermath_**

Half of ponyville waited outside of the cottage, kept from the woods by Celesta's own royal guard. Everything became a swirling blur of motion and sound as the little group broke from the woods and the royal guard tried to keep the hysterical parents and relatives from trampling one another. The foals who just moments before had been full of adventurous spirit were met with terrified, crying family members and the full weight of what they'd just gone through finally caught up.

Nurses Coldheart, Tenderheart, Sweetheart, and Redheart who'd been scattered through the crowd checking lungs and minor burns all rushed forward to see to the newly arrived foals. Doctor Stable and Doctor Critter (Fluttershy's stallionfriend, a veterinarian unicorn who'd come to ponyville a year and a half ago) rushed out to take Spitfire from the two cyan Pegasi and carried her into the cottage.

Rainbow Dash was worried, but she didn't hover while the two doctors worked; she knew she had other duties to attend to. She streaked off to meet the rest of the Wonderbolts who'd been rounded up and kept here by the Princesses. She looked over the scruffy blackened crew, her eyes falling on a slightly singed and very guilty looking Echo Fleetfoot.

"Forgive me, Princesses," she said, turning back and looking at each of them in turn, "But you really can't keep us here, we have to do a final fly-by of the immediate area and make sure there aren't any final stragglers." She said it firmly and turned back to the other Wonderbolts, eyeing Soarin in particular as if to ask permission before beginning to issue instructions. A hoof landed on her shoulder.

"Rainbow Dash, thank you, but that won't be necessary," her friend replied, "You and the rest of the Wonderbolts did an amazing job; not a single pony was lost. You reacted promptly and bravely to unforeseeable circumstances and without hesitation; we couldn't have asked more of you. If you hadn't the ramifications would have been unspeakable. Your trepidation is completely understandable, but I've already cast a special sort of locater spell to alert me to anypony still out there, and I can assure you: there is nopony left in those woods in need of rescuing."

Dash stared blankly for a moment at _Princess _Twilight Sparkle while the gist of her latest spiel sunk in, "Nopony that 'needs rescuing'?" she finally asked.

Twilight shifted uncomfortably for a moment, gesturing vaguely with her hoof, "You know, Zecora, a couple other ponies… they're entirely capable you know, and they're not endangering themselves near the volcano and they're not lost."

"Uh-huh…" the Pegasus eyed her suspiciously, "What pony besides Zecora would want to stay in the forest?"

Twilight opened her wings in exasperation, sputtering, trying to find a way to avoid the question; she'd seen the way the mare had hidden from Rainbow Dash and knew she wouldn't appreciate being mentioned.

Luckily for Twilight, Rainbow Dash's eyes were drawn to her wings, "So how's flight going?"

The purple alicorn paled, "That came out of nowhere, but to answer your question… Well, I certainly wasn't born to it, that's for sure," she mumbled, looking down, "I was actually considering asking Fluttershy for lessons."

Candice giggled, Celestia smiled and shook her head, Luna looked concerned.

Dash grinned, rather pleased with herself, "You _sure_ you still don't want lessons from me?"

"Yes Dash, I'm sure."

"Alright my little ponies," the majestic white alicorn spoke with authority as she stepped forward and swept her head toward the gathered Wonderbolts, "Thanks to our very best fliers here the most immediate danger has passed, however there's still the rather worrisome matter of all this ash, which is why I've brought everypony here," The princess swept her head back towards the other three alicorns. "Luna knows the night and the cold that comes in the absence of the sun. Candice presides over the Crystal Empire which is warm despite being in the midst of the arctic north, and if there's a spell that can take care of this, Twilight will find it."

Celestia turned back to the assembled Wonderbolts, her gaze shifting between Rainbow Dash, High Winds, Silver Lining, Lightning Streak, and Misty Fly, "Many of you have been on weather teams, and I think most of you that have, have also been their leaders; is that correct?" Dash, High Winds, and Silver Lining all nodded. "Good, so you know how to start clearing this ash. I've had Spike send for the best fliers from all the neighboring towns, they should be arriving momentarily to assist you."

"Uh, that's great Princess, but until they get here can I go check on Spitfire?" The others nodded and murmured their agreement. Celestia dipped her head, allowing it.

-.-.-.-

Inside the cottage, Spitfire was livid. She'd passed out for a couple hours, but now that she was awake again she felt fine; a little short of breath, but otherwise just fine, and they _still _wouldn't let her get up off of Fluttershy's couch to go help clear the ash.

"I've wasted the last few _hours_ getting some rest," she argued, "I'm going out there."

"Your lungs need a chance to clear out Spitfire," Doctor Stable shot back irritably.

"Well why don't you let me go get some fresh air then?" She began to get up only to be pushed back down, gently but firmly, by Doctor Critter.

"Because the air out there isn't fresh, it's full of soot," he replied.

"You don't seem to have a problem with anypony else out there breathing it!" she spat.

"Yes, actually, I _do _have a problem with everypony else out there breathing it, but at least they've stayed conscious." Stable argued.

"Not to mention that they don't have half a dozen burns and enough bruising to make somepony wonder if you aren't actually blue," Critter added. Spitfire scoffed at the vet's joke; except for where it had been burned away, her fur was too thick to be able to see any of her bruising through it.

"Ok, we're done here." She threw the blanket of and leapt into the air where she teetered momentarily, caught in the magical auras of both the doctor and the veterinary pony. They lowered her back onto the couch and put the blanket back on her lap. She crossed her hooves and glared daggers at her captors.

"Now now Spitfire, you of all ponies should know how important recuperation is," Rainbow Dash trotted up to the couch. "You wouldn't even make that much of a difference anyway. That stuff is wicked."

Spitfire sighed, "Oh, hey RD. Making any progress at all out there?"

"None whatsoever. Twilight sent me to fetch you three from the cottage, apparently we're evacuating everypony on the outskirts, and if we can't get this mess taken care of, all of Ponyville too."

"Oh gracious, we're evacuating?" Doctor Critter worried aloud, "Dear me, it's going to take a while to gather up all the animals out here… I must go find Fluttershy, has anypony seen Angel?"He rushed out the door.

Doctor Stable rolled his eyes. "Alright Spitfire, I suppose you're free to go, but you need to keep out of the ash, and for Celestia's sake, get some actual rest!"

Spitfire and Dash grinned knowingly at one another and both burst into flight and out the cottage and into the odd midday darkness.


End file.
